Chapter Two
As their small group walked into the castle that belonged to the Alpha family of the Pure-Bloods, Tiberius gripped her shoulder in a firm hand. He moved with his head held high and chin tilted with authority. Mostly, it was to show that she was his property Faolan knew this strut that dominant males used quite well.
Faolan noticed she was gathering a lot of attention from the staff and other slaves. The other nobility of the pack that lived there were gathering at the top of the railing that protected the balcony of the second level in the entrance hall, to watch. It was slightly unnerving to gain so much attention; even in her own pack (though she was the Alpha) she tried to make her pack mates more at ease around her. Therefore she wasn't stared at as much as Tiberius seemed to be, and definitely wasn't used to it.
A slight irritated flush colored her lightly tanned skin. She glared at each and every onlooker, and someone laughed saying, "Wow, Tiberius got a lively one this time."
That comment made her even angrier, but she held her tongue and followed Tiberius with her brows stitched in a cold and silent frown. She wouldn't start something with the entire pack, not yet at least; she would release her frustrations later when she was alone.
Slowly, as if they were some parade, they walked up the stairs. Eventually the guards left the two of them. Tiberius obviously didn't see her as a threat, he would be surprised. The other Tainted slaves watched her with carefully hidden respect, they knew who she was, and they were ready to help her when she needed it.
As he stopped to talk to another noble Pure-Blood, Faolan took in the beauty of the castle that surrounded her. There was art of Pure-Blood's everywhere, and rich satin curtains hung from every huge window. The stone the castle was made from was some sort of a light blue, almost light enough to be considered powder blue.
The Tainted's had to live in hiding, lest they be found and caught to be forced into slavery. So there was no grand castle for them to live in. Faolan had never learned what it was like to live in grandeur and beauty. She lived in a small home in the canopy of the Forest of Fae. The only reason she hadn't been found until she had allowed it was because the Forest of Fae was almost impossible to navigate, though the Tainteds that lived there had learned it quite well after spending almost five years there.
Tiberius was talking to the other noble; he seemed to be a close relative of some sort, "Don't let anyone in my room for about a week. I do believe this one will be harder to break than the others."
She pulled a face behind his back; she wouldn't be broken at all. But once again she held her tongue, which was quite a challenge for young Alpha female. She was used to speaking her mind, and controlling the situation, now she was in a place where she was seen as lower than dirt.
He turned and quickly she glanced up at him, the glare still firmly set in her eyes. He smirked, that irksome smirk and ushered her away from the interested crowd. Tiberius obviously wanted Faolan to himself, at least for a while. She wondered what he'd try to do to break her, though she could guess pretty easily.
As the two of them made their way through the castle, a forced silence fell upon them. He tried to make conversation twice, Faolan did not respond to either advance. Still quite frustrated about the fact that she was so chained in her body, forced to stay in her human form and so out of touch with her wolf self.
Tiberius stopped after they had walked up to the top of one of the turrets; he touched a dark door, carved out of cherry wood. On the surface of the wood was carved a jaguar Pure-blood staring out toward them, its eyes a pair of glimmering sapphires.
He touched the brass door knob, and it turned, "This is where you will stay for your first few weeks."
The room was... luxurious to say the least. Full of deep tones of blues with bits of gray and black, there were silk bed sheets, a circular rug with an abstract design, and all the furniture was made out of cherry wood. The bed was on raised stilts, with a ladder leading up to it. Set into the stone side of the circular room was a window nook with a cushioned seat and pillows for relaxing in the sun. Tiberius had a decent sized bookcase that took up half the room's wall and was full to the brim with leather bound books and scrolls.
Faolan walked forward, no longer aware of the shifter behind her, and fully engrossed now, in the books, set before her. This was more books than she owned back at the Tainted camp, and being a lover of the written word this was not something Faolan could ignore. It was sheer beauty in her golden eyes, these leather spines and rolls of parchment. As she approached the bookshelves she was afraid to touch it, her hand instead resting with unsure anxiety across her stomach.
Tiberius approached from behind, and because of her dampened hearing, and her unfocused state, Faolan never noticed the other shifter until he gently laid his hands on her shoulders. She looked at him, for once without animosity, this time she merely looked lost and unsure of what to do.
Faolan did not like this feeling of anxiousness. Normally, she would immerse herself in the books without a second thought, but here she was expected to act a certain way. Perhaps she would not be allowed to read at all.
Tiberius grinned as if he had uncovered something particularly interesting about her. Faolan suddenly felt that defensive shield come back over her and her hidden hackles raised, prickling in her mind's eye and raising the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. Viciously she yanked out of his grip and glared at him through narrowed golden eyes, though the look and the sudden loss of contact did nothing to scare or change the smirk on Tiberius's face.
"You're the first Tainted I've ever had whose shown so much interest in my books. You can read them you know. As long as you stay away from the scrolls with red ends," the jaguar said with a sly inflection in his voice.
Faolan wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic or to be wary. The way he was offering it to her, it was as if he were baiting a trap. As if he expected something after she accepted.
But she couldn't ignore it, couldn't let this opportunity pass; to learn so much history and possibly secrets about the Pure-Bloods. With a frustrated sigh, Faolan forced a smile and a stiff nod, before saying, "Thank you, Tiberius. I will gratefully take advantage of that offer."
Tiberius touched her cheek but she jerked back as if he had shocked her, his face fell slightly when her smile disappeared, "You are so gorgeous when you smile, little wolf. Please do it more often."
The request surprised Faolan, not that he was complimenting her, Tiberius seemed like a charmer, but the fact that he was asking her to smile and not commanding her. She felt he was easing her into her position.
"Now I have business to attend to, I expect you not to cause any trouble when they bring up your dinner. I will be back later tonight," the male shifter turned and left with that.
Faolan raised a brow as the door closed with a click and the sound of a lock rotating into place made a faint thud. She thought the first thing he would have done was demand services. But now that he was gone she felt kind of lost.
Some warmth had crept out of her, which she had attuned to the fact that she was even more aware of the fact that she was truly alone. No wolf to keep her company, she was missing a part of her that she had, had since she was thirteen. Tentatively, she reached out to the wolf inside her mind and suddenly she was enveloped in a frozen fire inside her mind, inside her soul. The burning pain radiated from her collar, so intense were the flames licking her insides that she fell to the floor; gasping and retching. She shuddered and yanked her reaching mind forcibly from her wolf thoughts, immediately causing the pain to stop.
She lay there, on the circular rug, trying to catch her breath with tears warming her freezing cheeks. Faolan shook so hard she felt her muscles cramping painfully, but she couldn't stop the shivering, both because she was cold as a Pure-Blood's heart, and because her body was in shock.
Slowly, after what she guessed was around ten minutes, she felt normal again and the shaking had stopped. She sighed and stood, shaking her body to rid herself of the cramps. Faolan was quite glad that Tiberius had left. If she had done that when he was around... she would've been disgusted with herself afterward, not that she wasn't now.
She moved to sit on the edge of the window seat and pressed the heels of her hands against her brow. She took in a deep breath and decided upon her next move. The sound of the practice fights of the Pure-Bloods' army, animal snarls erupting from outside and beneath the window made Faolan so frustrated and unable to focus she moved to the bed grudgingly. Laying down on it after kicking off her sandals she shoved her head under the pillows and successfully blocked out the noise.
Sometime after doing that, and when she was starting to figure out what she wanted to do for the next few weeks while she was stuck in this room, she fell asleep. She dreamt a very odd dream...
She was in a circular clearing in the Forest of Fae, where the moonlight was not blocked by the canopy. The moon was full and strong, Faolan could feel Her power filling her completely, until she felt the unbearable need to change and run through the trees. But something was stopping her from doing so. It frustrated Faolan, and she clawed at her neck trying to remove the offending collar that stopped her from shifting.
Suddenly, Faolan stopped the desperate action; a bright silver beam of light had filled the clearing. She had to cover her eyes to protect them from the painful brightness. As it left, in front of her was a great silver-white wolf with eagle's wings, in the shape of a Tainted shifter. She seemed to sparkle lightly and radiated a cool silver-white light from her eyes.
Faolan immediately dropped into a kneeling position, "Goddess, my Moon, my savior; why am I blessed with your presence?"
Almost something akin to a smile curved her maw, as she made a motion for Faolan to rise, and the young leader immediately followed the command, eager to please her deity.
'It is a joy to meet such a strong child of mine, Faolan. I have been waiting for so long, until the time was right to show myself to you, alpha of the Tainteds. Pride fills me every time I see you, you are strong and proud to be who you are, the perfect alpha to lead my children. I will be here to guide you from now on, Faolan. Whenever you feel that unbearable urge to do something, know it is my hand guiding you to your destiny. Be safe, my little one,' the Great Goddess said inside Faolan's mind her mouth never moving, and with that she was gone.
Faolan woke with a start at the sound of the door opening; her heart was pounding with adrenaline. Her body was completely still and she listened anxiously at the sound of footsteps, she knew them, the confidence and almost silence in them was unmistakable. Tiberius was back.
How long had she been asleep? She carefully removed the pillow and glanced at Tiberius; he raised a brow at her and smirked.
He motioned to her dinner which lay uneaten on the desk against the side of the room, "Not hungry?"
Faolan shook her head and watched Tiberius warily as he began to strip off his shirt and kick away his shoes. He stretched, slowly, his muscles moving beneath his skin so enticingly that Faolan shook her head in annoyance to try and focus her mind on something else.
He may be a Pure-Blood, and an annoying one, but that didn't mean Faolan didn't find him attractive. In fact if he had been a Tainted and she wasn't chained in her own skin by his doing, she probably would have already slept with him.
Tiberius relaxed his arching back and his arms came down to his sides, watching her with those dark blue eyes. With an almost, nonchalant approach, he walked toward her. A smirk curved his lips and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, she refused to give ground though.
He sat on the edge of the bed and brushed a hand up her thigh. The heat that rushed through her body so readily at his touch made her breath catch in her throat. How could she react so quickly to a Pure-Blood?
She knew Tiberius could smell her arousal, she could smell it so obviously he could with his sharper senses. But she wouldn't give into it, so she slapped the hand away that had rest itself just below her hip. He chuckled.
"You won't be able to resist forever, Faolan," Tiberius said, and Goddess, the way he said her name was like sweet honey dripping from his fangs.
"Watch me," Faolan knew she was lying through her teeth.
Tiberius was enjoying himself, she knew this. The way he smiled at her, the way his hand hovered just above her thigh, teasing her. With a slight snarl of excitement he was on top of her, straddling her thighs and hands pressing her wrists down into the mattress.
His nose hovered right above her pulse point, his lips parted and he dropped a warm, long lick along the groove of her throat. Faolan shuddered, from what she wanted to believe was revulsion but what she knew was complete arousal.
Tiberius's erection pressed hot and heavy right against the crease of her thighs. She hated that he could evoke these feelings in her, no other being ever had unless it had been the full moon, not even a Tainted. She arched against him, pushing with her wrists and struggling to get away from this strange nirvana she felt pulsing through her veins.
He laughed again; she was so weak right now with the collar on. She hated it with a passion only rivaled by the hunger she felt for this jaguar above her.
"I know you want me," Tiberius whispered into her ear, nipping her earlobe with elongated canines.
She growled out in frustration and her eyes were shifting shades of gold, swirling together like they usually were before she shifted. She snarled and arched her back and head upward, popping her shoulders out of place, and with a cry of pain she bit into his shoulder with anger. She viciously bit down with blunt human teeth, and yanked her head from side to side ripping into his tanned skin and tasting blood.
He let out a yell, mostly because he was surprised. Tiberius rolled onto the bed, away from her, touching his neck to feel teeth marks that shredded the skin there. Faolan was relieved to feel the pressure gone and could feel the weight of his gaze on her. But all she could feel was burning pain coming from her shoulders, only one had popped back in place, the other lay limp and useless.
It had been worth it, though, so worth it, because with the way he was gazing at her now... she could tell she had gained a little respect from him.
"What did you do to yourself, wolf?" Tiberius asked no animosity in his voice at all.
He grabbed her arm and without a warning popped it back into place, causing Faolan to scream loudly, though she quickly shut her mouth with a glare of anger at him.
He looked her over with what seemed to be concern, "Do not injure yourself, just to get back at me. Stubborn."
Tiberius looked at her in a way that seemed to say he had finally realized what he had gotten himself into. That Faolan would not be some easy slave to break and use, then discard when he was done. Her pride would be much harder to destroy, though he had no idea what the real reason was. He had no idea that Faolan had been born with pride few in the Tainted world ever saw, and so ripping that away from her would be like trying to take her soul, so much harder than it seemed.
Faolan carefully moved onto her side with a hitched breath that showed it caused her slight pain to do so. Tiberius carefully moved in behind her, pressing his warm and naked chest against her, though he did nothing more than that. He offered nothing more this time, than a warm body and comfort. Faolan sighed, and for a moment almost felt like crying because she was so confused.
She knew what the Pure-Bloods were doing was wrong, that much was obvious by the pain they had caused the Tainteds over the years. But her body wanted this shifter so bad; she ached for him even now with just his smell and his warmth surrounding her. At least her heart didn't play a part in it; her heart was still firmly set on freeing her people.
But as she was closing her eyes, even though she had just bitten Tiberius with anger, she couldn't help but feel safe with his presence near her, especially after he had seemed so worried after she had hurt her herself.